An autopsy in Portugal casts serious doubt on the accuracy of a Macau postmortem examination, putting pressure on officials in the city to revise their suicide ruling over a teenager's death in 2007.
Luis Amorim (pictured), a student at the Macau Portuguese School, was found dead under the old Macau-Taipa Bridge on the morning of September 30, 2007. His body was lying on Dr Sun Yat-sen Avenue where it passes beneath the bridge.
It was impossible for Luis, 17, to have died from a fall from the bridge as alleged by Macau investigators, an autopsy report by Portugal's National Institute of Forensic Science said this month.
Luis' father, Jose Amorim, a 55-year-old engineer, said his family would not give up fighting for the truth. 'I hope the Macau investigators will look at their mistakes and rectify them,' Amorim said.
After studying Luis' bone fractures, Portuguese forensic scientists concluded that they had not been caused by a fall from the bridge.
'A vertical fall from 12 to 16 metres high ... would have made a lot more damage than those verified,' said the report by the institute, which is under Portugal's Ministry of Justice. 'As no fractures typical of a vertical fall were observed, the hypothesis of a fall from the bridge should be excluded.'
